JOB DESCRIPTION

WE ARE

Our Unit is part of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL), which is entrusted with initiatives that contribute to the achievement of a highly competitive social market economy in the European Union, such as creating more and better jobs, promoting skills and entrepreneurship, improving the functioning of the labor markets, confronting poverty and social exclusion, modernizing social protection systems including pensions, health and long-term care, facilitating the free movement of workers, promoting workers’ rights, health and safety at work, and protecting against discrimination in the workplace, as well as the rights of persons with disabilities.

The policy and legislative initiatives in our DG are supported by the European Social Fund (ESF+), the Social Climate Fund, the European Globalization Adjustment Fund (EGF), the social investments and skills window of InvestEU, the Digital Europe Program and the Connecting Europe Facility.

Our unit is part of Directorate E, which is responsible for advancing and supporting high quality labor mobility within the EU by promoting free movement of workers, reducing barriers to cross-border labor mobility and by facilitating the EU legal framework on the coordination of social security systems. Directorate E also coordinates the upcoming Fair Labor Mobility Package, leads the strengthening of the European Labor Authority, and the digital European Social Security PASS (ESSPASS) initiative. It is also responsible for the promotion of the external dimension in the social security coordination field.

The mission of our unit is to contribute to the good functioning of the European labor market, by protecting the social security rights of citizens moving within Europe. Thus, the main purpose of our work is to ensure that EU rules on social security coordination are fit for purpose, that they are correctly applied, and to make the access for mobile citizens to their social security rights easier. The digitalization of social security coordination procedures, between institutions, or between citizens and institutions, is another important objective. Unit E2 is the owner of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information system (EESSI), and of the digital European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) initiative.

To achieve its objectives, the unit pursues the following main activities:

To develop, present and negotiate legislative proposals to continue the process of modernizing and updating the legislative framework; to monitor the correct application of EU law in the field, in particular by investigating complaints and questions introduced by individuals, the European Parliament and other stakeholders, and take, where appropriate, the necessary actions; to ensure, in close cooperation with the IT strategy and solutions unit and Member States, the proper introduction of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) system in relation to the business and legal aspects of the solution; to develop and implement the ESSPASS legislative initiative which is about the digitalization of the interactions between mobile EU citizens and their social security institutions, and to coordinate its implementation in the Member States and at EU level; to contribute to all external activities of the European Union in the field of social security coordination, notably with EFTA countries, candidate countries, the UK, Switzerland, and within the framework of Association Agreements; to promote evidence-based information on EU social security coordination, in particular by using networks of experts for training, data collection and legal analysis, and thereby contributing to an informed debate in the field.

WE PROPOSE

Unit E2 of DG EMPL is seeking to hire a policy officer.

Would you like to become part of a dynamic team of highly qualified lawyers and other specialists working on the core EU framework that coordinate national social security systems, which is indispensable to ensure the right of free movement within the Union? Are you interested in working on one of the key cornerstones of EU labor mobility, on topics that are legally complex and at the same time politically highly relevant? You will be working on a variety of tasks, including supporting the development and implementation of the main EU digital initiatives in social security coordination, the EESSI system and the E55PA55 initiative. You will have the opportunity to liaise directly with Member States, contributing and participating in the meetings of the Administrative Commission, where national delegations meet to discuss the interpretation of social security coordination rules, and other relevant bodies. You may also be involved in the preparation and negotiation of legislative initiatives

Part of the activity will be to liaise with other Commission’s services and with networks of experts on social security coordination.

WE LOOK FOR

The Unit in charge of the co-ordination of social security schemes is looking for a new colleague to join a very dynamic team of 23 colleagues.

• Specialist skills and experience

S Strong legal and policy background.

S Experience in addressing the legal and policy aspects of digital initiatives.

S Ability to draft high-quality legal and policy documents and to present complex information in a clear and accessible way to a variety of stakeholders.

S Excellent communication and negotiation skills.

• Personal Qualities

S  Ability to  cooperate effectively with colleagues within and outside the unit.

S  Ability to  make frequent presentations to large audiences.

S  Capacity    to manage multiple tasks efficiently.

S  Ability to  work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.

• Linguistic skills

Thorough knowledge of English and a satisfactory knowledge of French is a huge advantage.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

With a view to guaranteeing equal access to all, the Commission recruits from an open database of spontaneous applications. The present call for interests aims at helping the recruiters to identify potentially interested candidates within this database.

In practice, to express your interest, please follow the subsequent two steps:

If you are not registered yet in the open EPSO database, please do so at the following address: CAST Permanent. Please select under selection procedures for contract agent the CAST permanent profile that best suits your education and experience.

You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:

1. your CV 2. completed application form.

Please send these documents by the publication deadline to [email protected] indicating the call for interest reference EC-2025-EMPL-351963 in the subject.

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.